My name is Bradley (but you can call me Zeviander), and I am from Winnipeg, Canada. I decided to join this site mostly out of a desire to meet new people and interact with a community that has slightly higher standards than most internet forums. I came from a largely non-religious household, despite being baptized as a Protestant. I grew up with no real religious affiliations or leanings. Until late high school, I concentrated most of my academic efforts in mathematics and science.

Things started to change once I began asking existential questions and needed to find the perennial "answer". Long story short, I spent the next several years, including several in university, devoted to learning about religion. Now, I will fully admit that any knowledge gained is good, but now, after having graduated with a B.A. in Religious Studies and working two and a half years as a security guard, I regret not pursuing my original passion in physics and astronomy. Hindsight, unfortunately, is always 20/20, and I have deduced that it was a result of laziness, and no drive to really achieve anything (I picked what I picked because I already had a bunch of credits and wanted to finish).

Most of my time spent studying religion was largely from an apologist's perspective. I went through practically every major world religion, attempted to ascribe to the dogma and faith, defended them all against criticism, but failed on every attempt to make the "leap" (several were made with Buddhism). I discovered LaVeyan Satanism in high school, but gave it no real consideration. Earlier this year I had what could be considered a "religious experience" (but I'm not religious, so it was merely an awe-inspiring contemplation of the universe and my utter insignificance).

It was eye-opening to say the least. Shortly after this point, I grew interested in more secular and non-theistic forms of contemplation and philosophy. I decided to read The Satanic Bible and it struck a fairly large chord with how I feel I should live my life. Sure, it isn't perfect, and I find the idea of labeling myself a "Satanist", or anything at all, even "atheist" really sevres no purpose but to allow people to judge me based on their preconceptions before getting to know me.

So, in conclusion, I hope that I can become a welcomed member of this community and contribute to the growth of knowledge among those worthy to possess it. Hell, it'll make that $10K I spent on my degree actually worth something.

Isn't it interesting that having an awe-inspiring experience regarding the vastness of reality and feeling by comparison "utter insignificance" can lead one to recognizing the value in choosing to be the center and purpose of that universe!

That is very much what is meant in Satanism when we say that you choose yourself to be God. (You can read an elaboration of this idea in an essay I wrote here regarding what Satanic atheism is and isn't in the Satanic Source Sheet).

It's never too late to learn, I say. You don't necessarily need a degree in a topic to pursue it.

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I discovered LaVeyan Satanism in high school, but gave it no real consideration.

As somebody here already mentioned, the term "LaVeyan Satanism" is rather redundant. There's no evidence of an actual organized religion called "Satanism" with practitioners calling themselves "Satanists" that existed before the establishment of the Church of Satan in 1966. So we've got dibs on the name, "Satanism". There's already a different term for people who believe in Satan as an actual deity of worship: devil worshipers.

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Earlier this year I had what could be considered a "religious experience" (but I'm not religious, so it was merely an awe-inspiring contemplation of the universe and my utter insignificance).

Well that's what most "religious experiences" consist of anyway, right?

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I find the idea of labeling myself a "Satanist", or anything at all, even "atheist" really sevres no purpose but to allow people to judge me based on their preconceptions before getting to know me.

No doubt that in reading The Satanic Bible, you came across the lines "Satanists often encounter scoffers who maintain that labels are not necessary", and "Satanism uses many labels. If it were not for names, very few of us would understand anything in life, much less attach any significance to it".

I call myself both a "Satanist" and an "atheist" for the same reason I call myself "male" and "brown-eyed": because I fit the definitions. There's also really no way to avoid "judgement", since people are invariably going to draw some conclusions when they're given any information at all. Personally, I do judge those who seem to have a compulsion for denying any and all labels.

@ Janina & Bill regarding redundancy: I was not aware of this. I only used the term as I had not looked into what was described on Wikipedia as "Theistic Satanism" and the other "heretical" schools that stemmed from LaVey's original. I just assumed there were other types, heh. Surprising, that despite having a degree in the field, I know so little about this religion.

@ Nemo: I will certainly put the essay on my bookmarked reading list for next week. Thanks!

@ Bill: That is an interesting way of looking at it (labels) that I really had not thought of before. Spending a large part of my life thinking I needed to be part of the herd, it will take time getting used to being an individual among many.

I find the idea of labeling myself a "Satanist", or anything at all, even "atheist" really sevres no purpose but to allow people to judge me based on their preconceptions before getting to know me.

May I make an observation and a suggestion?

There is no contradiction (logically or practically) between labeling oneself a Satanist internally (if it fits of course), and fully embracing that label as a new part of one's permanent internal self image, and simply refraining from letting others know this about you (except when to do so would actually benefit you).

@Quaark: That makes sense. I just spent a lot of time in my life trying to fit into labels that were not for me (square peg in round hole). So exterior labels certainly do not appeal (or really mean anything at all) to me much anymore.

I certainly would say, internally, that Satanism and atheism resonate extremely well with my outlook on life. The thing I have always found amusing is how people quickly resort to considering a "Satanist" (I use quotes for emphasis on the following point) to be a "phase" people go through when they are adolescents, merely for the "shock and awe" the imagery brings those around them.

Also, may I pay a compliment to those whom organized this website and maintain it. The interface is top notch, and extremely intuitive (very much unlike other sites I visit), and it seems to have nothing more than is necessary to convey the messages (new posts, etc).

@ Janina & Bill regarding redundancy: I was not aware of this. I only used the term as I had not looked into what was described on Wikipedia as "Theistic Satanism" and the other "heretical" schools that stemmed from LaVey's original. I just assumed there were other types, heh. Surprising, that despite having a degree in the field, I know so little about this religion.

I certainly understand why there's common confusion on this topic, since unfortunately over the last several decades a lot of misinformation about Satanists and Satanism has been spread by the media, sensationalist talk shows, Christian fundamentalists, and Hollywood. Even though the Church of Satan has been making media appearances for close to 50 years, there's a lot of ignorance to fight.

In my experience, the terms "Theistic Satanism" and "LaVeyan Satanism" seem to be primarily used by two particular types of people: 1) Theists who practice some other religion with macabre overtones, but want to take the label of "Satanism" which LaVey worked hard to establish and erroneously apply it to themselves, and 2) journalists who are disappointed to find out that Satanists don't do the nasty things described in Christian propaganda tracts and tacky horror movies, so they'll dig up some random nut from the internet who does. Both groups are desperately trying to maintain the idea that Satanism is something that it's not, whether it's for a false sense of establishment or to just sell more newspapers.

Some might ask "Well isn't this like how Catholics and Protestants both claim to be the 'true Christians'?", but I think this is a bad analogy. Indeed, Catholics and Protestants are two different denominations of the same religion, Christianity. That's because despite the differences that distinguish the two, they both believe in the same deity, both ultimately base their beliefs on the same book, both emphasize Jesus and the resurrection, both have the 10 commandments (even if the indexing is slightly different), etc. The same can't be said about people whose views are reflected by the Satanic Bible, and people whose views run contradictory to it on just about every level.

Also, the Satanic Bible was written in the 20th century by one single author in straight-forward English, and the body of the text is identical to its first printing. So unlike Christianity and the ancient re-re-re-re-translated compilation of scriptures known as the Holy Bible, there's no need to create different denominations on Satanism based on different "interpretations" of Satanic Bible "passages", or emphasis of one line over another.

Sorry if this seemed like a long rant. It's not all directed to you personally. But it's a topic that comes up here now and then, and I feel needs to be addressed on occasion.

@Bill: Good to know. I pride myself on being educated, and being able to concisely and clearly tell or teach things to others. Especially with regards to what I believe. Your input is much appreciated.

Also, another point I forgot to respond to of yours regarding my education. I am actually planning on going back to university at some point in the next couple years to actually pursue my original goal and passion. Unfortunately, I have been out of that field for several years now (the last course I took that any semblance of math in it was in 2006) so I am going to have to, basically, relearn high school math, physics and chemistry, so I am not completely lost when I do register and begin courses.

Looking at basic algebra problems these days, and I am almost at a loss beyond basic order of operations. It is a sad state of affairs, but without any effort, I cannot complain about where I am in life.

Unfortunately, I have been out of that field for several years now (the last course I took that any semblance of math in it was in 2006) so I am going to have to, basically, relearn high school math, physics and chemistry, so I am not completely lost when I do register and begin courses.

Looking at basic algebra problems these days, and I am almost at a loss beyond basic order of operations.

In my experience, a lot of this stuff comes back to you once you start doing it again. It won't come back all at once, but you'll find yourself saying now and then "Oh, I remember how to do this now." Two sites I've found to be really helpful with mathematics education (and not littered with countless pop-up ads) if you haven't heard of them already are PurpleMath.com and the archive of Ask Dr. Math.

Thank you very much Bill! I actually have been looking for decent sites, but either, like you said, are covered in a mess of ads, or are too advanced for what I need (I do want to learn calculus proper eventually, but I can't just jump in head first without the basics at a point where I am confident about them).

Fortunately, I have a skill with formula memorization, which was especially helpful with physics. So hopefully that comes back to me as well.

@ Janina & Bill regarding redundancy: I was not aware of this. I only used the term as I had not looked into what was described on Wikipedia as "Theistic Satanism" and the other "heretical" schools that stemmed from LaVey's original. I just assumed there were other types, heh. Surprising, that despite having a degree in the field, I know so little about this religion.

I have read the article from Wikipedia myself, but noticed some mistakes in it. First of all, Satanists do not share Satanism to theistic- and atheistic forms of Satanism. Like Reverend told so called theistic views are Devil Worship, not Satanism.

When we talk about Devil Worship there is a reason to remember that they are actually Christian heretics who decided to worship their devil instead of god. We Satanists do not believe in actual god or devil as separate entity. We reject the whole spirituality and concentrate to carnal side of being. For that reason we do not acknowledge these spiritual dreams as Satanism. They are just guys who want to adopt the label for their own purposes.

The reason I took this up was the same reason Reverend Bill M. already mentioned. These false terms come up from time to time cause many persons has got false information from these heretics, whom our Church do not acknowledge as part of our religion!